Arranged
by lonelyfoxlovenaru
Summary: Three years has passed, Naruto is back and the real story is going to begin. People think Naruto had changed but he's not, just people can't see through his perfect mask. A little bit of the truth at first. Dark, strong Naruto. R
1. Chapter 1: A little bit of the truth

**Disclaimer: I do not own every char in Naruto. **

**To have the story youu are going to read, I must say thank a lot to a great help of Invader Makiavella^^**

**Now lets see, what should I do nex, ah right!**

" Lets start!" talking

"_Review plz!" _thought

"**Arranged!" **shout

**It's a upside down story of Naruto. **

The sun was low in the west; the entire village glowed in the warm orange light. The clouds flying on the sky made countless, unique shapes. Each had different shapes when one cared to look at one of them twice. His mind flying high in the sky, Shikamaru forced himself back to the present when his mother slammed something hard beside him.

"Shikamaru, get up and tell me what this is."

_Oh, god things are getting troublesome. _Thought the little Shikamaru, as he looked from his angry mother to the report about his mark and rank at the academy.

"Just a score-board, mummy." He said like it was no big deal. His mother smiled.

"Really, son? Just a score-board? **Just a score-board?**" His mother's voice was so loud, that it could break all the glass nearby. It also made their neighbors look through their windows to see what horrible thing was happening. Though they almost knew what it was immediately, they wondered that time who was the one driving the mother crazy: Father or son?

"**Look at it."** the mother pointed at the score-board. Her anger rose up when the son again looked from the report paper to her with 'not big deal' eyes.

He asked, as if he hadn't known what the problem was, "and I did. So what, mother?"

"Fine," Mrs. Nara repressed her anger, "could you tell why you are the next to dead last?"

"That one? Just because of it?" Shikamaru looked at his mother with innocent eyes, "I thought it was something else. It's nothing to bother, mother."

"What? You should remember that your father—"

"—is an extraordinary strategist of Konoha, right? Oh, please, mother, despite that, his result at academy wasn't better than mine" Shikamaru shrugged with 'the fact it was' tone.

Mrs. Nara was at a loss. Her son got up, yawned, and stretched his arms.

"That rank is nothing, mammy. Don't exaggerate it. Is there anything to eat, mum? I'm hungry."

"**Stop right there!"** Mrs. Nara shouted. At the same time, Shikaku, her husband, came back from his workplace.

"Oh, right, honey. I won't move." Shikaku obeyed his wife's command immediately, while wondering what he did for her to tell him to stop.

"Not you. Come and take a look at your son's results in the Academy."

Shikaku was relieved. He asked his son while he took the result report from her wife, "what's your rank?"

"The second to the last, father." Shikamaru answered simply.

"It's good, better than me. Is there anything you want..?" He trailed on, and, as he felt the sharp stare his wife was giving him, changed his tone of voice. "Son, it's not good. How could you be the second to the last? I'm so disappointed! Try harder next time."

"I'm sick of you two! Do whatever you want: I don't care."

Mrs. Nara went into the kitchen, maybe the food she prepared for the dinner irritated her as the noise from cooking work was somehow dangerous that day.

"Father, let play chess."

Shikaku gave his son a look meaning 'are you crazy?'

"What? You aren't scared?"

Perhaps year later, he would accept it, but now, before his little son, it was not acceptable.

"Ok, let's play, and don't cry when I beat you, again." Shikaku grinned. While he prepared the board, he asked his son.

"Who is the best this time?"

"Uchiha, again." Shikamaru shrugged.

"What about the other?"

'Uzumaki, again." Shikamaru said with the same, obvious voice.

"However," he added, "the mark or the rank is never the thing to decide. Right, dad?"

In Uchiha Sasuke's family's home, the dinner was missing someone, and the silent atmosphere was just broken when the father, Fugaku, asked his younger son.

"Sasuke, do you have the result at the Academy?"

"Yes, father. I'm the first rank." Sasuke answered immediately: he only waited for this question. He was the best again in his course. He always brought the result report along with him, ready to be showed to his father.

"That's good," Fugaku said with the same cold, emotionless face. He turned to his wife, Mikoto.

"Where's Itachi?"

"I guess he is practicing again." Mikoto replied.

"That son is going further..." Fugaku sighed.

"Good job son." She picked up the food and put it in Sasuke's bowl.

It wasn't hard to realize Sasuke was unhappy. He continued his dinner even though it began tasting like grass to him. The happiness of being the best in the academy popped like a bubble and was replaced by the sorrow of not being the favorite son of his father. Once again, the slight envy to his excellent brother rose up.

"I wonder where that kid is now" Itachi talked to his friend while they stopped in the middle of practice. The sky had darkened and the heat had somewhat reduced, but their faces were still red, and their breath was still heavy.

"I think I know. I will meet him after this. Something must happen." Shisui said, "What about your brother? I heard many expect another prodigious Uchiha."

"He has a great potential, but I'm afraid the first step of success will make him overestimate himself. Besides, that will result, nothing really is important." Itachi shrugged. Shisui smiled. He said simply:

"Don't worry. It's you who also had success in the first step at the academy."

"He's different from us. He does not see..."

Shisui stopped him, and put his hand on Itachi's shoulder.

"I know what you want to say, just believe in your brother. Let's continue" Shisui said.

"Fine," Itachi smiled, which made Shisui feel relieved, "and I will beat you this time."

"It will happen after a long, long time, my friend." Shisui smirked.

He sat at the highest point of the village, the breeze running its invisible hand through his blond hair. He looked down the lightened street. Somehow, he was even smaller, lonelier—more than ever. That day was the day they met each other, he did not look for him to tell him about his problem. He always helped him and this time he let him down.

Naruto sighed. The result report was being held in his hand. Over the previous moth, he tried his best to prove he was not dead last anymore. He let himself be affected by—no, it was his fault, and he was not going to blame anyone else. He didn't have that strong will. He knew all along, and yet, he was affected.

The sound of steps echoed behind him. He knew who it was, so he didn't turn around, part of him was ashamed of himself. That one sat down beside him.

"What's wrong, Naruto?" Shisui Uchiha asked as if Naruto being there proved that he had a problem.

Naruto didn't answer. He looked up to Shisui while he gave him the result report of the Academy. Shisui took a look at the paper in his hand, and smiled.

"So what?"

"_So what?_" Naruto repeated. He stood up "You saw it, you saw how a failure I am and that's so... I'm fine to be dead last my whole life. You don't need to waste your time with me anymore. Nothing is going to change..."

"Both you and me know exactly what happened the day before the academy examination. After all, those marks, that rank is nothing, understand? You now it is nothing but figurative: it doesn't prove anything." Shisui put his hand on Naruto's shoulder and looked into his eyes. Naruto turned his head to avoid his gaze. 

"No, that's not it. The problem isn't this." Naruto pointed at the report paper, "but it's here, and here" Naruto said, pointing at his head and heart.

Shisui gave him an enigmatic look. Naruto sat down. His eyes gazed onto the blackened sky, onto the crescent moon.

"My will is not strong enough, it's too fragile and everyone could break it. It's because my head was not totally ready and my heart was too emotional to accept the fact that there is a monster inside me." Naruto put his hand on his stomach.

Shisui smiled again, Naruto seemed surprised.

"It's fine. Before you know it, you'll have a stronger will."

"Really?" Naruto asked. His eyes lightened.

"Yeah. Your head isn't ready, and your heart is still too emotional, but it's fine. It is because you're human, with blood and flesh, and not a monster—as people think about you. You will be strong, physically and mentally. You're also a smart kid. Believe me." Shisui said with a smile.

Naruto's face had slight pink colour. He nodded and smiled for first time in that day.

"I'm hungry," Shisui stand up and stretch his arms, "Do you want to go and eat something with me? I will pay"

"Really?" Uchiha nodded. Naruto's smile widened. All his worry had gone with the wind, Shisui really had something to make him relieve. "Can we eat ramen?" Naruto asked hopefully.

"Sure, I knew that you'd ask for it." Shisui grinned, "Climb on my back, we will get there faster." he sat down.

Naruto shook his head. He was already on the way down.

"No, I can climb up here, and then I can climb down there too. Let see who is faster. Try to catch up, niichan" he turned and waved to Shisui.

"Fine, if you want to."

Few minutes later when they already were on the road, Naruto finally let Shisui carry him on his back. While walking, they talked to each other about many things.

"What about Sasuke's rank?"

"First again…" Naruto shrugged, "So what? You told me not to care much about something like that, and now you care?"

"No", Shisui shook his head, "I just asked. Hey," Shisui added, "Do not lose to him."

"It's hard. He is a genius after all."

"So, my brother is nothing less than him. Besides, my little brother cannot lose to Itachi's brother." Shisui snorted. Naruto grinned evilly.

"I get it."

"It is the aim for you, understand? I will teach you to surpass him." Shisui said. Naruto sighed.

"But you don't have much time."

"You will be considered different..."

Shisui smiled, it was a surprise for Naruto.

"_The boy will be happy if he knew."_

The smell of Ichikaru flung around them. The warm light from the store made the road before it glow as if it had been made by gold. The warm light and the pleasant smell of ramen were inviting to lonely people. Above them, on the sky, the crescent moon was lighting the world with the cold, overflowing light.

Naruto never surpassed Sasuke at the Academy, everyone knew that. He was always the dead last the next few years at Academy, and he even failed the graduation exam more than once. Nobody was disappointed, because nobody ever had their faith in him. The only one who used to believe in Naruto had died long ago because his best friend, Uchiha Itachi, killed him; and then, after one night, the whole Uchiha clan was also wiped out by him.

There was only one survivor, Uchiha Sasuke: Itachi's little brother. Sasuke's hatred to his brother grew day by day and he swore that he would kill him to get revenge.

When Sasuke was twelve years old, he and Naruto were in the same team, Team 7. One was appraised because of his talent, which he showed anytime, and his bloodline; the other was defied because of many reasons, though no one ever talked about what the reason was. The distance between them was as great as the heaven and hell, but no one knew why their friendship grew up until that day.

The day Uchiha Sasuke left the village for his revenge's sake. He never knew that he was saved by the person he had sworn to kill, once again.

"_Sasuke!_" Itachi's desperate voice had echoed on the enormous space. His little brother, whom he could give away anything—even his life—to protect, was on his arms, lifeless. Under the cold rain, his brother was getting colder and colder, his breath was so faint that Itachi was getting afraid. His cloak was darkened by Sasuke's blood. His brother might not speak to him, ever again. In that moment, he had thought it would be pleasing to hear even those words that only showed hatred.

Itachi looked up. The one who caused this scene was no one else but Sasuke's best friend, jinchuuriki of Konoha, Uzumaki Naruto. However, Itachi and him had shared another bond.

Itachi had looked at Naruto with crimson eyes. Itachi had roared. The sound of the waterfall couldn't drown his voice.

"_**Naruto! How could you do this to him? You promised you would take care of him, right?"**_

Itachi had searched the answer in the blond's eyes. His eyes were cold, different from the ones he remembered, at least before that day. The crimson eyes looked into the icy blue eyes for a while until Naruto started laughing, his laugh resounded. An insane laugh, but, somehow, it felt cold and lonely.

"I took care of him for you until this very moment. Anyway, there is no cure for his ignorance, and also arrogance. I'd rather kill him right here and now, as he was going to Orochimaru's hand. It's so easy b—"

The world around Naruto changed dramatically. The blue sky turned to red with black clouds. Sasuke and Itachi were no where to found and Naruto realized he was tied to a pillar. It was Itachi's strongest genjutsu.

That world was totally under his control. Naruto smirked as he heard Uchiha's voice.

"_**Naruto, before I take my brother I will torture you by dozen horrible deaths which you could never imagine. He will not die: it's you who's going to die. In the next 72 hours..."**_

"I'm sorry but what are you going to do." Itachi's eyes widened, Naruto had disappeared.

"No way! This world is totally under my control. No human can..."

"Right, no mere human could... The genjutsu that sacrificed Shisui's life is really worthy but it's no use to me, not anymore, Itachi-san" Itachi had found himself tied, and his world turned to black. He couldn't move, and he, helplessly, saw his brother disappear in the dark.

"Naruto where are you?" Itachi had roared.

"I'm right here. What's wrong?" Naruto had appeared, his tone seemed to be friendly, but his eyes were the same: as cold as ice... "Oh, your little brother," Naruto had said casually, "He's here, right beside me." Sasuke had appeared beside Naruto, his feet were few centimeters above the ground, or something else, similar to it. Hanged by an invisible hook, Sasuke's face down, his skin was so pale that it seemed to be glowing. Sasuke was right before his eyes, lifeless, and he could do nothing to save him.

_He.. Has he..._

"No, he's not dead, but I don't for how long..." answered Naruto, as if reading Itachi's mind.

There was no time to wonder about Naruto, the only things about the blond Itachi knew for sure were that Naruto was way different that day.

"Please, don't harm him. Do whatever you want to me... let him live" Itachi had begged. He didn't care about anything but Sasuke's life.

"What a surprise! You are begging for him, the one who hates you more than anyone in the world—no, maybe less than me. I'm kidding. It's no surprise at all. You could do anything for him. I already knew that many years ago"

"You know it, so free him... I will do anything..."

Naruto stopped him, his voice was high.

"What could you do for me with that sick body of yours? Your light is going to disappear soon. Yet, do you really think that I need you? Um?"

"So kill me, revenge me for what I did, do anything you want to me..."

"No, it was way easy to you, Itachi-san. I had a better idea, punish him: kill him" Sasuke's body was being flailed in the air, that air of the world now under Naruto's control, like a leaf in a storm.

"Please, stop..." Itachi begged, "do anything to me as you wish. Heal him and set him free, please... I know you can do that"

"Right, I could, but why should I help this useless thing?" Naruto had continued mocking Itachi.

"Because he was your best friend"

"So what? How about your best friend, Itachi-san? What did you do to him?"

"I..." Itachi was at a loss.

"Don't worry, I don't blame you. In fact, I have to thank to your brothers. Because of you two, this Naruto exists."

"What?" The world around him had turned back to normal. Naruto smiled, but his eyes were cold.

"I don't want it to stop here. I want more fun with your brother, Itachi-san."

Itachi's eyes were hot, as if they were being burned. The cold rain didn't help to repress the pain. When his vision regained clarity, Sasuke had already disappeared.

"Where's Sasuke?" He heard someone talk to him from behind. The chill came off from Naruto.

"He's on the right track. I hope, after the time he's going to spend with Orochimaru, he'll be different than the bunch of trash he's now."

"Don't worry," Naruto added, "he can't remember anything but the fact that he beat and let me live, that trees can't either. You were never here."

"But—" Itachi was about to say something, but Naruto cut him.

"Don't ask, I won't answer anyway."

Naruto once again appeared in front of Itachi's eyes, he was back to his normal shape, not his bad shape after the fight with Sasuke. He turned shorter and brighter than he was a moment before. The only things that had not changed were his eyes, as they remained as cold as ice.

"Now leave, Kakashi will be here at any minute. Don't ruin my performance."

Giving the last look at Naruto, Itachi disappeared. There were many questions in his head, and none had any answer.

Few minutes later, Kakashi came. He was late, Sasuke had left, Naruto was looking at the waterfall. He seemed to be in bad condition, according to the fact that he was unable to move.

"I couldn't stop him.' Naruto looked down.

Kakashi sighed. He put his hand on Naruto's shoulder. His eyes gazed at the waterfall. The water was running very fast, swept away everything in its way.

But...

No matter how hard the stream was, at the end of the river, water was still**...**

**Do you like it? A upside down world where no one knows what is real and what is fake.**

**^0^ Thax for reading**

**See you soon...**


	2. Chapter 2: Naruto is back

**Chapter 2:**

**Naruto is back... So what? Yeah, read and see what will happened. **

**Too lazy to write more words -**

**R&R**

Few weeks after Sasuke's departure, Naruto also left the village with Jiraiya for training.

Friends that walked in the same path now parted their way. Sasuke went for revenge's sake. Naruto went to get stronger, and Sakura stayed to wait... Each chose their path. One's choice was to forget about the past, another to look for the future, and one try to maintain the present... One would wonder which one was the best for them, would it be none?

Nothing can stop the flow of water, the clouds keep flying. Day to day, years pass, and no one notices how great the speed of time is. Three years are not enough to forget a person, but not too short to still remember them. Especially if they had disappeared with no trace that they once existed in the world.

Three years had passed. It also meant that the day Orochimaru could change his body was drawing near. Whenever Sakura thought about it, she'd get the feeling of her heart clenching. She went through those three years because she knew that before the deadline, Sasuke would be... fine. At least it was what she liked to think.

Sometimes, she woke up at the middle of night, having dreamed about those golden days, when Team 7 was still together. But the bright picture quickly shattered into a million pieces. A grey and dull picture replaced it. Sasuke was gone, so was Naruto. Kakashi-sensei was busy with his job. There was only her, all alone. She cried.

She wanted everything to get back back, she wanted the old days back, but first of all, she wanted Naruto back. She wanted to save Sasuke, but she didn't have the guts or the strength to believe in herself like the time when Naruto was there. He was special, and she thought that, if Naruto was there, Sasuke would be saved.

Naruto had, somehow, disappeared along Jiraiya, and now she had to make a choice. She had to do it herself. Maybe she couldn't do it, but at least she would've tried. The only problem left was that she didn't have any clue as to where Sasuke was. The reports she read at Tsunade's office, her sensei, showed nothing.

Before she could do anything else, a devastating new from Suna made her stop any plan she was making.

The Kazekage —Gaara—, was kidnapped by the Akatsuki.

Akatsuki had started to move out of the shadows, which meant Naruto's life was in danger. But because there were still no traces of him, no one knew if he already was.

"Where's Naruto?" was the question, not only Tsunade, but also all the ones who knew him asked themselves. Other people didn't care, as they just wanted him never to come back.

Naruto's disappearance was of no general concern now, though, as the Kazekage had been kidnapped.

Following the Hokage's command, Kakashi's team, which were only Sakura and Kakashi with a member of ROOTS, whose name was Sai, had departed. Their destination was Suna, which was three days apart from their village. They met Temari on the way and she accompanied them. She was worried about her little brother, and when they were in Suna, she heard her other brother, Kankuro, had been poisoned by an Akatsuki's member. However, he got over it thank to Sakura's and Chiyo's help.

Chiyo decided to take part in Kazekage's retrieval, as the Suna's council could not spare any high level shinobi, since the Kazekage's absence made it easy for another Hidden Village to attack Suna. Chiyo's only wish was to see her grandson for the last time.

Team Kakashi went first, following them, about half a day later, was Team Gai. Akatsuki was both teams' objective.

"Where's Sai? How could he leave us in such a situation?"

Sakura said aggressively when she with Kakashi and Chiyo jumped from tree to tree. According to Pakkun, they were getting near to Akatsuki's hideout. Sai had disappeared with a weird bird he made himself. However, they didn't have time to find him, so they started immediately to strike Itachi's replacement down. If the bijuu was ripped out, the host would die. They had no time to waste.

"I don't know. He is one of Roots' members, who are always doing things no one can understand except themselves. However, leaving a team appointed by the Hokage is unacceptable." Kakashi replied.

The hideout of Akatsuki was in their sight, but something felt wrong. It was like a creepy feeling in their guts

"**Hey guys. Hurry up! Akatsuki's decoy took us too long.**" Lee shouted through the forest, he was way far apart from others.

"**Slow down! We're not as fast as you too!**" Tenten shouted back.

"**The last to arrive pays for the meal!**" Gai passed Lee and shouted back to his students, giving them _encouragement_ to go faster.

"I don't understand how he still has so much energy after such a battle…" Tenten shook her head and sped up."Come on, Neji-kun" she turned her head.

"_Those guys..." _Neji sighed...

"What's happening?"

Sakura asked but she was not the only one wondering. Kakashi and Chiyo had no clue; they had never seen something like that.

"**I'm the fir-**"

Gai landed next to Kakashi. He was rendered speechless from the scene before him.

"What's wrong, Gai-sensei?" Neji asked. He was the second one to arrive, after him was Lee, and the last was Tenten. Their reactions were just like their teacher's.

"What's happening?" Lee asked after a long silence.

"Who knows…"

"There is no trace of whom or what used to be here." Pakkun scented.

"Are you sure we weren't misled?"

Pakkun lifted his head to Tenten.

"It's my job. How could you think that I can't remember a place? I'm a dog after all. With the help of scent, I will never lose my way." Pakkun said to her and then turned to Kakashi, "You don't believe me, do you?"

Kakashi bent down on his knees and patted his dog's head. "How couldn't I believe you? You're the best dog I've ever had. We'll find out what happened here."

After Pakkun disappeared in a white puff of smoke, Kakashi stood up and looked around again. Before them was a big, wide hole. It was twice in length the Ninja Academy of Konoha, and half in width of a medium lake. Every trace was erased.

"So does anyone here have an idea of what happened?"

Silence took place for a few minutes, after Chiyo asked if they actually thought it was just a coincidence.

"It's hard to believe. Could someone that can do this exist?" Sakura said.

"I think someone is responsible for it." Neji's turned and looked at his team.

"Could it be? How?" asked Tenten

"That's what we need to figure out." Neji sighed. He had used his byakugan and tried to find anything out of place in the hole, but it just looked like someone used giant a knife and cut the earth out of its place and left a hole.

"Now what are we going to do, sensei?" Lee asked his teacher.

"You said there are no traces left right, Kakashi?" he took the Kakashi's silence as an agreement; "If you and your dogs can do nothing, then we can't, as well".

"Is there anyone in that... hole?" Sakura wondered and Neji shook his head, he had already checked it out. It was of no help. The fact there was some deep holes similar to this appear all around the wall behind them, all of them similar but smaller compared to the one in front of them. The endless darkness of it made people think that it would lead them down to another world, a dark world. It only showed one simple thing: there had been a fight in there, but nobody could guess out what happened and how deadly the fight was.

While they were looking into the giant death hole and surrounding it to try and find any puppet or trace for puppeteer, as Chiyo told them that one of Akatsuki was her grandson, master of puppet technique. Meanwhile something was happening far away from there...

"You Akatsuki are so pathetic. Both you and that crazy puppet. But I don't blame you, after all Akatsuki is an organization full of pathetic people."

The man let out an insane laugh, his hair was black and his face looked like it belonged to someone who had been through many troubles and fights. He had a pair of unique eyes: they were crimson, now with the seed of insanity. Below him, under the ground, were two members of Akatsuki. From their look, they were beaten totally. The fact that one of them was already dead with a kunai buried in chest while another had a deep diagonal cut from shoulder to waist and legs were barely attached to his body.

It had been a long time since the last time he felt the position of a stronger one. His eyes lightened with insane happiness. He still couldn't figure out what happened to him but now it was the least problem in his list. He was back and stronger than ever. He could feel the boiling blood running in his veins. What should he do next? He wondered.

Adrenaline was still running through his body, so he didn't mind to see if the other man was still conscious. However, Deidara knew, himself, that he didn't have much time left. He decided to use his remaining strength to defeat his enemy. Looking as his supporting teammate and rival in the art, Sasori, who had lost his mind and also his life, lied like a puppet at the ground.

"It is such a waste that you can't see how my last piece of art." Deidara grinned happily, for the last time...

"_When we meet again, I will make you accept the fact that mine is the genuine art."_

"What? A final attack? You lost your hope in living. I understand."

The man said, his voice sarcastic. Deidara didn't care. His goal was set and it was the only thing he had in his mind.

"What are you doing?" The man was curious at the man who was trying to stand on his legs. "Are you trying to take me to the hell with you?" he realized. The Akatsuki member wanted to make a suicide attack.

He smiled. It didn't matter to him. But playing through his prey's final act would be fun for sure. He watched the blond haired man flying to the sky by using his clay bird.

"**To those who didn't know a blast is the ultimate art!**"

He laughed; his body was glowing in a white light. The radius of his ultimate attack was ten kilometers, His enemy would turn to ash. Without looking, he could see his enemy was running like a rat from the explosion, but he would not.

Deidara grinned. He already closed his eyes waiting. He believed he could rest in peace, with the death he had dreamed. He had no regret.

But...

"**What else? Do you really think that that kind of attack can harm me?"**

Deidara heard the man's voice. His voice was cold.

"_What? Why my attack did not happen? It has to be now..."_

"Don't worry! I had no intention to stop your dream death. I just want to tell you a final thing. You and your lacking strategy are pathetic. Farewell."

Right at the border of the explosion, where the wind was screaming and cutting off everything, the man smirked. His long dark hair was flying behind him because of the wind. He could hear, even the distance, the final scream of regret.

"What's happening?"

Tenten looked up, they were in a dangerous area, but they did not know it. They could feel an earthquake; a strong earthquake which was out of the number that rite could measure. The strong wind swept through them. Luckily, they channeled chakra to their feet and held themselves, not like some shinobi who didn't have enough time. Their body was wacked to trees or boulders behind them.

Neji was the first one to realize what was happening. His eyes widened.

"**It's a bomb!**" He shouted. Before they knew it, a wave of light had fallen onto them.

The forest was blown up because of the explosion.

"_Am I dead?" _Sakura thought, she felt nothing, maybe her soul had left her body too suddenly for her brain. That blast was inevitable. They were definitely dead.

Many pictures ran through her head like a video tape. She realized there were so many things she regretted, there were still many things she wanted to do and say. She would never have the chance again.

"Sakura-chan?" She heard someone call her. She was relieved, at least she did not have to die alone. She opened her eyes, it was good to find out that their appearance did not change after their death.

"Are you dead too, Gai-sensei?" she asked

"What are you saying, Sakura?" Gai asked.

Sakura looked around. Everyone was around her but Kakashi-sensei was a bit tired, she could say that. Something was weird.

"Kakashi-sensei, are you ok? I didn't know that souls could be tired."

"Sakura!" Tenten said, trying not to laugh, "We are not dead." She said clearly, with a nod to confirm before Sakura spoke. "I'm sure we are"

"Good job, my rival of my life. You saved all of us."

"I thought we'd die for sure. Your skill is really unique. Can you explain something to us?" Chiyo asked curiously

"Right!" Gai nodded.

Kakashi looked up, his breath was heavy and he gave him a look meaning "Do-I-look that I could explain after using that technique?"

"Fine!" Gai shrugged, he looked around and scratched his head.

"Something's not right!"

'What's wrong, sensei?" Tenten asked

"Where's the bushy brows kid?"

Heard what Chiyo said, Gai realized that Lee missing.

"Lee!"

Gai roared and ran around to find Lee.

"Maybe he fell into that thing." Sakura suggested. Her face was still red from embarrassment.

"Lee!" Gai rushed to the hole.

"_ai.. en...i" (Gai sensei!")_

Lee was held by every part of his body: hands, foots, his sandals only make the problem worse, and teeth. The slip was abrupt and he had to try his hard to hold on it. After all he was using his finger's muscle to hold himself together with stupid weight.

Everybody except Kakashi went to the hole edge.

"Don't worry I will pull you up."

"Wait Gai-sensei!" Lee opened his mouth to stop when he saw her teacher started to climb down before others's widened eyes.

He fell at the same time with his teacher.

"This place is slippery and it is like the mud." Lee yelled at his sensei while sliding uncontrolled.

"Why did you not told me before?" Gai shouted back.

"Did I look like I can talk then?" Lee yelled again.

"Gai-sensei, we are falling, what do we have to do now?"

"Practicing how to walk in the air." Gai answered while squirmed like a swimmer,

"Swim in the air sensei."

While both of they still had the interest in chatting, above of them, at the hole's mouth, other's face turned pale.

"What do we have to do now? Is there any we can do? Who knows what is in that things." Tenten asked anxiously.

"I still hear they talked and laughed, nothing happened now, let them be!" Neji snorted." After all the water level down there enough for you survive even jump down willingly from here."

"Then why do you tie a rope around you?" Tenten asked and Neji blushed.

"Take it!" He gave the rope to Tenten and said. "We have only girls and an old lady; Kakashi-sensei was tired so I am the only who can go down there. Don't lose it or we will have to wait until water fill this hole or Kakashi-sensei enough chakra to solid the mud to earth."

Tenten, Sakura nodded.

"I will help. Don't look down on this old hag."

Chiyo walked to them.

Neji walked to the whole's mouth. He was about to jumped then a strange thing happened.

The hole disappeared.

"What's happening?" All eyes are on the land which just reappeared.

"Where are Lee and Gai sensei?"

Tenten asked.

"I don't know." Neji said in worried tone. He opened his eyes. At first he saw nothing, he shook his head and Tenten 's head was down.

"Wait!"

She looked up immediately. Neji's voice sounded relieved. "They are ok."

'Where are they?" Tenten asked.

"Up here!"

Neji pointed at the sky and everyone followed it. From above of them, two figures were squirming like crazy.

"We are falling sensei!"

Lee yelled.

"So what! We are still falling, it's not any useful information!"

Gai yelled back.

"No! I meant we are falling to the ground!"

They did fall onto the ground in two same weird shapes.

"I'm ok!" Gai jumped up.

"Me too!" Lee followed.

"No one asked you yet!" Tenten sighed while Sakura stared at them with widen eyes.

"They are always like that!" She smiled

Gai and Lee were ok. Now Neji and Chiyo turned their attention to what just happened. A giant hellhole just disappeared right before their eyes as if it never existed. And the water just flowed below them without the sign of it leaking down the hole

"What are you doing?" asked Sai, who just appeared out of nowhere. Every eye was on him.

"Ha! Now you returned. What do you think you are doing? Leaving team in a mission is totally unacceptable!" Sakura shouted angrily. She hated this guy, despite his resemble to Sasuke's appearance; he did not know how to talk to others and always wear a weird smile. It made her fell creepy.

"Sai!" Kakashi somewhat regained his breath. He had to take a rest but it had to wait. The first important things were...

"Why did you leave us? Do you not know how to work in a team? You can't just walk away while your comrades are in danger. It's not teamwork. I have to report to Hokage about it."

"Do whatever you want, but first, please remember one thing, Kakashi-san, I'm not under Hokage's control. I have a right to do whatever Roots think makes a benefit to Konoha. I don't think you guys will be the best choice."

Sai gave him a smile, without any emotions in it.

"What do you mean?"

"Our Roots's first priority is to protect Konoha from every factor which can cause harm to it. Nothing else is important. I'm not allowed to waste my time fighting with Akatsuki's replacement."

The copy-nin sighed. No one could understand the weird principles of Roots. They was said to be those trained to be accurate robots, doing missions without emotions.

"It's all talk. Yeah, you are not allowed to waste your time to fight with Akatsuki's replacement but what you could do. According to what I see, you do nothing." Sakura snorted. However, this is what Kakashi care about.

"Fine!" Kakashi shrugged, he was sitting on the ground so he had to lift his head to look at Sai's eyes. "We will talk about it later. Now I have something to ask you, and I want you to answer, as a captain of your team, are you clear?"

"Go ahead!" Sai nodded.

"Good! Then tell me what happened here..." Kakashi looked around, the hellhole had disappeared. 'There was a giant hellhole here just few minutes ago, I don't know where it has gone, but I don't care. I just want to know if you know anything about whom or what had caused it or what happened before we came here."

Kakashi looked at Sai, waited.

"I know everything about it... because the truth is I am the one who caused it."

Sai answered with the very same smile.

The retrieval mission couldn't be seen as a success. The results were Gaara was saved and no one was injured except Kakashi's exhaustion when he used his **Kamui **technique.

No one knew who had taken Kazekage back to the village and why he still survived was also a big question. Sai denied that he had nothing to do with it, maybe, maybe not. Chiyo knew for sure that Akatsuki had taken Shukaku, Garra surviving must be because a little of the biju's chakra was still inside the body, as Sai was there at the final moment. That was the only explanation.

However he had avoided the death, Gaara was in coma.

There were many skeptical details in the mission and the one who knew everything maybe Sai. He refused to reveal. Though no one wanted to, his wish was still accepted. He is a member of Roots which even Hokage had to be cautious because of their leader.

However, Tsunade had the right to demand him to tell the truth in front of her and his leader so the mystery would be revealed when they back home.

After taking a day of rest, Konoha's ninja were on the way. Kakashi's situation was even worse and Gai had him on his back. A very creepy feeling surrounded him.

"You have to tell everything when we meet Tsunade. Why can't you tell it now?"

Sakura was running beside Sai. She as well, as the others, was very curious about what happened. Once again, she was irritated by Sai's smile and his way of talking.

"I already told you guys. The imagination gave me an ultimate strength."

His answer did not make anything clearly.

Tsunade was looking in the lottery at the table. She won… it was a bad omen.

She just heard the news from Suna. Kazekage had been rescued thank to Roots's member. There were many things she could not understand in the report and she couldn't wait to hear the details when the ninja squad returned.

Her thought was interrupted by some knocks. Before she could say anything, Shizune busted into.

"How many times did I tell you to wait until receiving reply?"

"I'm sorry, Tsunade-sama but there is a very important news I sure that you want to hear."

"What it is?"

"Naruto's here. He's back"

The muscles on Tsunade's face relieved, it was the only good news she had heard recently.

"The village will be a mess once they come back. Let them in."

"_I can't wait to teach them the consequence of their long disappearance." _She smiled at her thought.

"The problem is..." Shizune hesitated.

"What?" Tsunade cooked her light yellow eyebrows.

"Jiraiya-sennin is not here with Naruto."

Her smile faded away.

"What happened?"

Shizune shook her head.

"I do not know either. Naruto said he wanted you to be the first one to know."

"Let him in now"

Tsunade commanded loudly. She looked at the lottery on the table and felt a gut wrenching feeling.

"You guys are back!" Kotetsu said with a wide smile, "What happened to Kakashi-senpai?"He wondered as he saw Gai had Kakashi on his back.

"He drew out all his strength and he's exhausted. We are going to take him to hospital before going to Hokage's office." Gai told them before took out his passport for them to record down.

"I'm sorry to hear that. Kakashi senpai seemed to have a lot of bonds with hospital." Kotetsu's comrade commented and no one objected.

"Then we go." Neji said and everyone say goodbye to the guards before walking into the village.

Kotetsu just remembered something, he intended to tell the squad but realized they had gone too far.

"I just wanted to tell them Naruto's back. They should have been happy to hear that"

"Don't worry! They will know soon. Did you see that Naruto has changed a lot? I almost can't recognize him." Izumo said.

"Yes, I do." Kotetsu agreed, paused a little, he asked his pal,"I wondered why Jiraiya-sennin did not come back with him?"

**Hokage's tower...**

"Why don't we meet Tsunade-sama now, Shizune-chan?" Sakura asked. The ninja squad was in Hokage's office after sending Kakashi to hospital.

"She does not want to meet anyone. I'm sorry."

Shizune shook her head sadly.

"What happened? I thought she must have wanted to hear the details of the mission."

"Not now. She just heard a bad news." The Hokage assistant sighed.

"And what it is? What kind of bad news can make her upset that she does not bother to work?" Tenten asked.

"Her comrade's dead. Do you think that, after hearing that news, she can continue to work normally?"

Everybody turned their head when they heard a familiar voice. Standing behind them, leaning on a wall was a man, no, a young man with blonde hair. He looked up and his dark icy blue eyes went through them. Sakura's eyes widened.

"Naruto? You're back."


End file.
